Leinster-39 Edinburgh-10

THE FINAL FOUR

Ospreys away, Connacht away, Glasgow at home and finally Ulster away.

No fancy puns involved in this week’s writeup headline...the focus is squarely on Leinster’s task ahead in this season’s Guinness Pro12 challenge.

But when I say “Final Four”, I’m not referring to our reaching the end of season playoffs, because at this stage that should be a bare minimum achievement for us.  What we need to be aiming for is a top two finish, and with Munster and Ospreys either side of us in the top three, we need to be mindful of our final four matches of the regular season, three of which are away from home and none of which will provide easy points.

What this means is that the matches we are playing now during the Six Nations are of crucial importance and we need every point we can get.  So a match like this against Edinburgh, where we run in six tries and concede just the one, can only be summarized one way : “mission accomplished”.

That would make for a pretty boring writeup, however, and to be fair when taken in isolation this was by no means a routine victory for Leo Cullen’s men.

We received the kickoff in our own 22 and made extremely heavy weather of exiting, leading to the visitors gaining themselves a strong attacking position, only to then in turn cough the ball up back to us when we finally forced our way up the field.  In many ways that first minute showed the pattern for the early stages - we struggle to do the basics, they struggle to capitalise, we do well with our second chance.

But those opening few minutes did lack one defining characteristic for the match - injuries.  They at least had the “decency” to wait until the 8th minute to arrive and from there they never let up.  

First to book a spot in the treatment room was poor Dominic Ryan, who has had a horrible run of injuries over the years which has seen him slip down our crowded back row pecking order.  After a tough tackle seemed to already ring his bell, a stray boot from a teammate provided some afters...he never returned from his HIA and hopefully the long term prognosis isn’t too bad.

If there was a silver lining to his removal from the action, it was that it brought together two very similar players for Leinster in Josh van der Flier and Dan Leavy.  We had issues around the breakdown for those opening few minutes, and having two strong opensides was just what we needed, a situation not far from the Wallabies’ “Hooper/Pocock” dilemma. (DanDerFlier?)

So as Leavy packed down for a scrum as his first bit of action, I thought to myself this new configuration could reap some reward for us, though I didn’t realise just how immediately the pairing would work!  The put in was actually for the visitors, yet we had them under pressure straight away before van der Flier was able to turn the ball over which had us on the attack.

And guess who it was taking the ball at pace deep into the Edinburgh 22?  Yes, it was Leavy.  Now we had a good chance to make some hay with them scrambling, and after a phase or two in a central position we got it out wide where Barry Daly applied a great winger’s finish in the corner.  Conversion was missed but at least the try seal was broken, 5-0 to Leinster.

From there it looked as though our rampaging flankers were going to tear the Scots apart, when first Leavy and then van der Flier managed steals in the next few minutes.  However as Josh was performing his, an opponent tried to clear him out and he got his shoulder twistedl he seems to have suffered an AC joint separation which depending on the grade of tear could have him out for quite a while; a shame for him, Leinster and Ireland as I had him in the frame to start against France.

So now with both starting flankers gone after just 13 minutes it was our sub lock Mick Kearney who came on.  Mike McCarthy had started and has played 6 in his day but it made sense for him to stay there with Ross Molony (the two went on to post great lineout & tackle numbers).  Any team would struggle to regroup from such early injuries and it took us a good twenty minutes to get back to scoring ways.  Some poor positional kicking particularly from Luke McGrath didn’t help our cause much either.

In the meantime, we of course also had to keep our visitors out, and with Sam Hidalgo-Clyne and Duncan Weir pulling their strings, our defence needed to be strong and luckily it was despite the changes.  Peter O’Reilly of the Sunday Times reported yesterday that there are rumours of Stuart Lancaster extending his stay at the RDS - I know his remit has been more than simply replacing Kurt McQuilkin but our linespeed & general D on Friday showed how valuable the former England head coach has been for us this season.

The key passage of play in the first half was around the 25 minute mark when still only 5 points behind, Edinburgh embarked on a monster series of 28 phases mostly on our line and we were able to hold out...we did ship a penalty but in the further phases that followed their kick to touch, Hidalgo-Clyne tried to nip through before being stopped in his tracks by Leavy, who then got up and jackled his way to a penalty that ended the seige without a score.

And as well as our tough tackling, the Scots were helping us out with a few favours, not least of which was courtesy of their left winger Tom Brown who had the line at his mercy just before halftime - all he had to do was take a pass right in his bread basket but it was too much for him and we went in 5 points ahead at the break.

But the injury count had already gone from the sublime to the ridiculous by the time the second half kicked off - you are allowed 8 substitutions overall and you normally don't want any made by this stage, yet we had four as centre Rory O’Loughlin and wing Dave Kearney had been replaced by two Byrnes Ross & Adam and this meant our formation was a long, long way from that which started, and there was STILL more to come.

For this we have to cut them some slack for finding it difficult to get the attack rolling, especially as the defensive structure was so sound.  And once again we needed some help to register our second try as with nary a Leinster defender contesting a breakdown for once, Edinburgh lock Ben Toolis decides to seal off possession in his own 22, getting pinged by ref Ian Davies for his trouble.

This gave us the strong attacking platform we needed and from the lineout we mauled to the line before pounding out some phases (with Edinburgh repeatedly offside I might add) before eventually getting it out to our “makeshift” fullback Carbery who got over the line.

A word on Carbery...though he didn’t play a full 80 at outhalf like Leo & Joe would have liked, we did get glimpses of what he brings to the table.  Naturally training with Sexton will have him up to speed on his full repertoire but when it comes to bringing the ball himself, he offers a very different option.  Johnny S will barrel into a tackler like he has a 6 or 12 on his back, but Joey C is much more fleet of foot and has the ability to leave tacklers grasping at nothing.  Great to see him back and well and all as Ross Byrne has done in his absence, we definitely need him for the weeks ahead.

When the clock hit 51m, Mick Kearney dropped a simple pass at midfield and I was convinced the score as it stood, 13-3, was to be the final one.  Zane Kirchner going off to add to our injury woes didn’t help much either as Luke McGrath was forced out to the wing.  But once again were to make the most of having two similar players on the pitch together, and once again it was off an Edinburgh scrum.

...an interesting sub-plot at Leinster this weather is at scrumhalf.  Are you on #TeamLuke or #TeamJGP?  I’m torn at the minute.  We have seen good and bad from both over the course of the season, though mostly good.  Right now, I’m thinking the way they line out tonight is best for us, but only if Gibson-Park is guaranteed at least 20 minutes.

I wrote the above in my preview and after Dan Leavy showed more heroics winning the ball back after that Edinburgh feed, a wonderful combination between those very two competing scrum-halves up the touchline helped Joey Carbery to score what was easily the try of the night.  Now the bonus point was within our reach, and it wasn’t long in coming as our visitors’ heads dropped and this time it was Barry Daly helping himself to his second after a quality miss pass from JGP.

Was the scoring done there?  Of course not - Dan Leavy was yet to have his say and he duly finished off a strong maul to the line to provide us with our fifth.  Already he was our man of the match, and he literally played right to the final whistle.  I may be very early in saying it but while ability-wise he is very similar to van der Flier, in “on-pitch-personality” Leavy strikes me as a player who could well have captaincy in his future, at provincial level if not even higher.

Another player who made a good cameo was Adam Byrne.  I know he didn’t find the scoresheet and that’s rare for him this season, but I reckon his display would have caught Joe Schmidt’s eye as he is very strong in the tackle following up on a box kick.

Edinburgh struck back immediately after Leavy’s try when a neat offload from Turner found Weir who went over, but right from the kickoff we returned the favour as our 3rd Byrne off the bench, Bryan this time, powered over to complete our six-pack.

So as you can see, although the job was done, there was much to talk about, and that late three-tries-in-5-minutes burst was particularly satisfying as anyone who left early would have missed them!

But like I said, now those points are in the bag, we have to go in search of more with those final four matches in mind. Scarlets and Cardiff will be visiting the RDS but not before we travel to Rodney Parade to face the Dragons, a visit we have had problems with in recent seasons but the way I see it we’ll need a minimum of 13 of the 15 points on offer against those Welsh regions if we are to stay in touch with the top two on the "ladder".

And of course in between those matches and the final four I mentioned back at the start, there’s the small matter of Wasps coming to the Aviva Stadium on April Fool’s Day.  With all of that to look forward to plus Ireland being very much still in the Six Nations hunt, there’s a lot to be excited about these days and here’s hoping I have nothing but happy harping ahead!!! JLP

IRELAND-9 NEW ZEALAND-21

THE BEAR POKES BACK

The saying goes that there are two sides to every story.  But if if that’s true, does it mean both sides carry equal weight?  Is one completely “right” and one “wrong”?  And does it even imply that one viewpoint is a polar opposite of the other?

What if one side has its merits as well as its flaws while the other is, for the want of a better word, deplorable?  Unfortunately I can’t think of an example from “real life” to illustrate what I’m trying to say so let’s instead look at how it relates to Saturday evening’s events at the Aviva Stadium.

After sifting through dozens and dozens of tweets, Facebook comments and posts in a few different WhatsApp groups (sorry Snapchat fans you’re a bridge too far for me!) after the match the opinion on why Ireland lost this match seems to fall into two camps - “Team Blame the Ref” and “Team Blame Ourselves”.

The latter group consisted mostly of those who usually look to “give out” on these occasions whether we win or lose but I’m not looking to focus on George Hook wannabes, now or any other time.  What interested me most on this side of the argument was the notion put forward by some that we “dare not question the officials”.

Eh, why?  Lord knows we judge everything else to do with sport?  Of course we must show respect and particularly in a game like rugby with so many complicated laws we have to appreciate the size of the task facing one man in his 30s/40s chasing around after 30 who are much younger for 80 minutes.  But does that give the ref and his crew a free pass?  I don’t think so.

For me, once you can back up your viewpoint with examples then of course we can question the role the officials played in a result.  And you know what, when we are giving our opinion as fans, so what if it comes with more than a hint of coloured goggles?  That’s what makes this business of harping on rugby so interesting.

Now just to be clear, no - this result isn’t ALL Jaco Peyper’s fault nor his team.  There are several factors, but I wanted to address that point about the ref specifically because while we might have dodged a bullet or two ourselves along the way, I firmly believe the officiating of the visitors’ approach affected the final margin if not the actual result.

Chicago might be known as the Windy City but right from the very kickoff the All Blacks came at us like they brought the gusty weather to Dublin with them and had it at their backs.  Beauden Barrett found Sean O’Brien with his drop kick and we were unable to deal with the onrushing pressure...suddenly the World Champions had front foot ball and the game not a minute old.

Fair play to Seanie, he got himself right back in the thick of the action forcing a turnover after a few phases but while Conor Murray’s decision to kick forward was a good one, the accuracy wasn’t there and it was easily recovered.  From then on our visitors were in full-on “beast” mode and the subsequent try from Fekitoa gave the impression that it could be a long afternoon.

But even in that disappointing start for Ireland there was a positive.  Had we all forgotten why our visitors were so fired up in the first place?  WE did that.  THIS Irish team.  And what’s more, we did it after also conceding the game’s first try.  Say what you like about this Ireland performance, but you cannot say anyone’s heads dropped after that opening score.

One thing that did drop was our first attacking lineout.  New Zealand were appalling at this set piece in Chicago yet once they had their preferred duo of Retallick & Whitelock in their second row it was a different story.  Now we actually did recover the ball after this early spill, but it was still to be significant.

Thanks to a break from Jamie Heaslip and a neat offload to O’Brien, all of a sudden we were on their line looking to all intents and purposes like we were going to cross before a penalty under the posts forced us into a decision, and I reckon that the new lineout threat played a role in our settling for the easy three points.

Still though...it was good to be on the scoreboard so soon after the try, and we played our first attacking position in such a positive fashion that we had every chance of getting down that end to threaten again.

But a point I made in my preview proved to be rather haunting on the day.  “In the backs, Joe has his dream team in both the 9/10 and 12/13 combos.  Simply put, the more minutes those four are on the pitch, the better our chances.”  And this leads us to the first big refereeing call on just 10 minutes in an incident which began the breakup of that particular fantastic four.

My first reaction to Cane’s challenge on Henshaw was one of fear for our player.  I thought another All Black had him by the waist as he spun around and got smashed.  Turns out he wasn’t being held, but still that spin move does rather limit your ability to see what’s there to greet you when you complete your turn.

My first reaction to the hit was that it wasn’t really Cane’s fault.  I don’t ever want to think there’s any maliciousness in a challenge, and how was he to know that Henshaw was going to spin.  But after several watches I have come to realise that the tackle would have been made whatever way our guy was facing, so clearly there was never an intent to go low, which puts us firmly in “reckless” territory.

But even with all of that, it was the first big challenge of the match.  Definitely a penalty and a yellow for that would have been harsh (maybe).  Interesting that the normally-calm Joe Schmidt looked so incensed in the coaches’ box about the fact that only a penalty was given, though his key inside centre being stretchered off so early was also a factor.

So on came Garry Ringrose, and with Jared Payne’s role in the 13 channel so pivotal to Ireland’s defensive setup, the youngster had to slot in at 12 somehow.

Not long afterwards, we might have counted ourselves lucky not to receive a card as Andrew Trimble knocked on an attempted interception off Barrett (even though both could have been yellow however, dangerous tackles and deliberate knockons are kind of in different leagues!) but it was at the resulting scrum where we shipped try number two.

Looking at how our D lined up at the scrum I’m wondering if we were somehow inviting them to score?  Or were we still settling in to Ringrose’s inclusion?  We had to the right of the scrum just three defenders against four All Blacks, expecting Conor Murray to be the fourth tackler running laterally from the set piece (of course he also had to cover the very real possibility of Reid breaking off).  Barrett clearly spotted this (well if I did he HAD to) and backed himself to beat Murray, which he duly did until....

Well, was it a try?  First of all, there is definitely an argument that Sexton’s challenge was itself dangerous...if we rule that way then the grounding doesn’t matter - it’s a penalty try and Sexton himself is in card trouble.  But let’s examine what the officials actually did.

Nothing was said about the Sexton challenge so technically, it was fine.  Peyper asked the TMO if he definitely saw a grounding, to which Jon Mason replied in the positive.  Unless he hails from the planet Krypton I don’t know how he could definitively say he saw leather meet grass.  One angle looks a certain try, the other a certain “held-up” - neither was conclusive.  Yet it was given.  I don't think it should have been,  but perhaps I’m biased!

So there we were - 14-3 down, not even 20 minutes gone, Henshaw off.  What more could possibly go wrong?

Well we still came roaring back at them and as another attack gains momentum, Dane Coles takes Murray out before he picks up the ball.  On its own, this is in yellow territory.  But already the All Black penalty count is higher than it should be.  Rory Best has a word with Peyper about the “cheap shots”.

Maybe this chat was what helped the ref decide to bin Aaron Smith on our next series, though this isn’t for dangerous tackles, rather “breakdown infringements”.  And the sin binning becomes bittersweet as Johnny Sexton is himself forced from the action, having done his hamstring (the other one this time apparently).

Our lineouts are getting marginally better by this stage...the visitors are still making mischief but we are generally able to get the ball away.  Still...we are always under pressure and clearly Steve Hansen’s men were out to shake us off our set moves at every turn.

Then we have a great position with a scrum 5m out (as another key man is forced off in CJ Stander).  The All Blacks did have a bit of a nudge on us, but still we were retaining the ball and while it was Kieran Reid who was pinged for releasing his bind, for me the infringer was Squire who seemed to cynically fall on the ball at the base of the scrum preventing us from using it.

This is about as blatant as it gets.

Couldn't understand how it wasn't more than a penalty at time and looks even worse now. pic.twitter.com/dU0M9lzET9

— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) November 20, 2016

But even if Reid was the only transgressor, there’s still a case for yellow given the attacking nature of the scrum at that time.  Which brings us to one of my biggest bugbears with officiating these days...a reluctance to bin a second player.  Doesn’t matter what team it is, even Leinster or Ireland.  If the offence warrants a yellow, you must go.  Six-odd minutes against 13 All Blacks would not have been easy by a long stretch, but it certainly would've been easiER as the remainder of the match showed.

Again we felt it better to go for the option of 3 points, and even though that was our only score while they were down a man, being “just the” eight points down at the interval left me with a decent amount of hope that we could turn things around.

Sure enough, we came out of the blocks strongly in the second half.  Aaron Smith was having another mare with some poor kicking and we were putting together some decent phases and making some significant yardage.  Often the Kiwi defensive net was strong but at one point, we found a little gap out wide which Simon Zebo tried to exploit until...

Yes, it was another high tackle.  This time, it was Fekitoa.  On its own without a second look and even without all the other high shots, this was a yellow.  But - eh, how about a review?  This clearly reveals a swinging arm.  It’s swinging and it connects at neck level.  Sorry mate, but you should be off.

There’s a lot of controversy about the final pass from TJ Perenera before the third All Black try, and as Rory Best said himself at the time, it was worth a look by the TMO because there was “too much at stake”.  But that was one of those tries with several amazing offloads that you almost wish to be legal even if it’s against your team.

What actually annoyed me most about that try was the fact that Fekitoa got it - he shouldn’t be on the park.  And clearly the citing commissioner thinks there was something to look at; both in his challenge and that of Cane’s, though of course that is of no use to Ireland now.

So defeat it was to be.  Three converted tries definitely beats three penalties every time.  And it’s true, we could have done with a bit more accuracy at times...we were nowhere near as clinical as we had been in Chicago.  Over two-thirds domination in both possession and territory should get you into double figures on the scoreboard whatever the opposition, especially in front of a home crowd.

But if you ignore the refereeing decisions, and if you ignore the way the All Blacks upped their game (as well as the height of their tackles), and if you ignore the fact that we were the reason WHY they upped their game, and if you ignore the fact that we lost three key players in the opening 20 minutes, and if you ignore some monumental performances from the likes of Jamie Heaslip, Rory Best (really taking to this test captaincy lark very well I must say), Tadhg Furlong (owns that 3 jersey now), Sean O’Brien from the start plus Paddy Jackson, Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose off the bench….

….then, well, *sigh*.

I see some challenges ahead for our squad.  We need to explore some solid cover for that 9-10-12-13 axis.  Carbery and Ringrose are a good start but I’m not wild about our starting alternatives at scrum half or inside centre.  There is definitely a lot for us to work on.

But I am proud of our displays in these two matches against one of the finest squads ever assembled in the sport. Much was made of the fact that we put 5 tries past them in Chicago, which is as much as they conceded for the entire Rugby Championship.  Well Saturday was also the first time in a good while they failed to score four or more in a match, and after 20 minutes that did not look possible.

If some of our own fans don’t know we gave them one hell of a battle for 160 minutes, you can be sure the All Blacks themselves do.  The Lions wouldn’t turn down our results and performances for the first two tests next summer, that’s for sure.

Well done to Joe & co, let’s finish off November in style against the Wallabies next week, and then it’s on to a promising Six Nations.  JLP

PS Many many many thanks once more to the Aviva Fan Studio for letting me tag along to watch the match - it was actually my first time ever seeing the All Blacks live!  A great day was had despite the result.

Leinster-25 Munster-14

THAT LITTLE BIT HIGHER

I’d love to be able to say that taking photos of rugby lineouts with your phone is some kind of artform, but it really is all about luck.

First, you need the set piece to take place right in front of where you’re sitting.  Then you need to be aware enough to take out your phone before the line is set.  THEN if you’re really lucky you’ll have enough juice on your phone having been giving your mates WhatsApp updates on your location throughout your bus journey to the Aviva.  After that you simply hover your thumb over the button until the hooker sets to throw, and hey presto...

It’s a crooked throw,  Or the pic gets taken too soon.  Or it gets taken too late.  Or the guy two seats away decided he wants another pint and bumps into you on his way past.  Or, on this very fortunate occasion at the Aviva on Saturday, you manage to get the ball just as it is plucked out of the air.

The reason I’m harping on this snap of mine is that, well ok, I’m a bit proud of it despite the good luck, but also I reckon it pretty much encapsulates how the match went.  Both sides were up for it but Leinster just seemed to have that bit of extra reach required to get the job done and ended up the worthy winners. 

Easily the key to our success on the day was our defence.  The amount of work Munster had to put in for their two tries was exhausting to look at so I can only imagine what was it was like for them.  Even when they managed to sneak a metre or two beyond the gainline, more often than not they were back where the started if not further as the next wave of tacklers was right in position.

I’ve always been something of an admirer of tightly organised “D” from any team  though I can see how it doesn’t exactly make the game a thrilling one for the “casual” viewer.  Still, right from the very kickoff we were holding the visitors at bay.  They went through 14 phases before Keith Earls had to resort to a grubber through which effectively became a turnover.

And while our 146 tackles on the day were pretty much spread throughout the squad, it was in the 9, 10, 12 and 13 positions where it seemed to matter most.  After Noel Reid showed in Cardiff we perhaps needn’t worry so much about his defensive prowess at 12, we finally got to see Robbie Henshaw tog out in blue and it was clear from the word go just what he can bring to our side.

When you add to this the tackling capabilities of those either side of him the Leinster line (a key choke tackle was won by Luke McGrath, Sexton and Henshaw) you have the perfect foundations for a defensive set up that will definitely help us in our upcoming European campaign.

Meanwhile down the other end it wasn’t so much that Munster’s defence was poor rather Leinster seemed to have the right approach ready to use for each situation in front of them.  We weren’t simply barreling forward on every carry hoping this would be time we broke through...whether it was carries, grubbers, territory kicks, box kicks, it usually seemed like the right option, if not always with the perfect execution.

Or as Sky’s Mark Robson put it : “There just seems to be a little more acceleration & energy about the Leinster carrying here”.

It was enough to give us an early 6-0 lead with little or no effort.  When the second Sexton penalty went over there was a degree of comfort in the fact that we had our noses in front after just 10 minutes and we even had a chance for an early try when Simon Zebo denied Isa with a last-gasp challenge at the line.

Eventually Erasmus’ men did get themselves a lead though only after a succession of penalties finally got them a decent attacking position on our tryline.  Then it took virtually the entire Munster team piling into a maul to get returned skipper Peter O’Mahony over the line. 

Based purely on territory and possession at that moment they deserved to be ahead though there was a sense that we had a least a try or two in it while you felt they might find it would take them at least another 25 minutes to trouble the scorers again.

Our response was almost instantaneous when a rugby league style grubber through from Sexton fell perfectly for Ringrose to take and score but the youngster just seemed to take his eye off it at the last moment and it got away from him.  However, when Munster tried to run the ball out of their own 22 from the resulting scrum they were undone by the choke tackle I mentioned earlier and we were back on the attack.

As we got to the tryline I thought Peter O’Mahony was unlucky not to be allowed a turnover but instead referee David Wilkinson awarded the scrum to Leinster for forward momentum.  Now it was our turn to put some short-range set-piece preparation into effect, but rather than sheer weight of numbers, Sexton instead went for guile.

The scrum was 5m out towards the West Stand touchline and we went for a blind side move which saw the ref get himself in a horrible position (not for the last time on the day as it turned out) which meant we had another scrum.  Not only did we cheekily go for another blind side play but we did nothing to hide it...Sexton lined up on that side, McGrath went straight to him, he shipped to his skipper who went over in the corner.  It was as if they knew a Nacewa/Sweetnam confrontation would have but one outcome.

Sexton pushed his conversion attempt wide but while 11-7 became the halftime score you had a feeling the try-scoring was far from done for the day.  The second half began in a similar fashion to the first as Munster went on a 20-phase series which again threatened once or twice before a brace of Leinster tacklers would send them back from whence they came, eventually a knockon thwarted them again.

Then after Keith Earls pinched the ball off Rory O’Loughlin at midfield they had another opportunity to strike.  When we play Castres and Montpellier in the coming weeks I feel they will use these situations to put the ball in behind us to make the most hay from our lack of defensive structure but instead Munster hopped on the phase train again and to their credit got it all the way to the line.

I actually thought this was every bit as much a try as was Rhys Ruddock’s effort in Cardiff last week but on this occasion it was judged a double movement.  A try at that point really could have put a different complexion on the remaining half hour but instead we were able to clear with a penalty.

When the expected substitutions were made around the 50-minute mark, the first touch for two in particular off the bench demonstrated just how much it was to be Leinster’s day.

First we had James Tracy, who has had some issues with lineout darts this season yet after we put a speculative ball to touch in their 22, their own throw went awry straight into the grateful arms of the young hooker and just like that we were on the front foot again.

In the phases that followed Sexton tried his patented “wraparound” move though it was quickly shut down which is probably why he has used it so sparingly.  Still we were able to recover and having worked an overlap on the opposite side Rob Kearney was able to find an, ahem, “flat” pass for his skipper to go over for his second.  To be fair I thought it was certainly worth a look by the TMO.

Shortly after the restart following Sexton’s conversion which made it 18-7, as Munster tried to respond we had substitute Jacob Taute’s first touch, which came after a knuckleball of a pass from Ronan O’Mahony forcing the South African to knock on at his bootlaces thus ending yet another chance with the ball.

From that scrum we were able to exert yet more pressure on their tryline...first it looked like Isa was in for another but again he was kept out by Zebo.  Eventually there was a comedy of errors after Ronan O’Mahony struggled to control a ball put in behind the Munster defence - in the end he pushed it out of the way of a grasping Henshaw before it fell to Jamison Gibson-Park who had a simple dot down.

This was another job for the TMO and thankfully the officials eventually reached the right decision though in taking as many as fifteen looks at Henshaw’s involvement it really looked as though they didn’t want to award the try.

A bit of good fortune for Leinster although Gordon Darcy in the Sky commentary box was quick to point out the role played by Jamie Heaslip earlier in the move because his slight of hand kept O’Mahony high in his line before the number 8’s pass instead to Henshaw who grubbered through and forced the mistake. 

So 25-7 to Leinster and the match points were all but in the bag.  To Munster’s credit they didn’t give up and we certainly did a bit on the defensive front after some strong mauling and a way-too-easy overlap let Taute in for a consolation score with about six minutes left. 

This set up what could have been an interesting finale with both sides needing a try for a bonus point but with the Champions Cup next on the list the match just fizzled out to a conclusion.  There is talk of a potential citing for Munster prop James Cronin but I’d be surprised if anything actually came of it given the time of year that’s in it.

All round it was a great occasion as always, with a more than decent turnout.  There can be no doubt the right team won and while we weren’t perfect, we definitely seem to be in better nick for the challenges ahead. 

I don’t watch Munster week in week out but based on what I have seen this season it would appear they have found it hard to replace their retired legends, one of whom had his book signing in Dublin that day and another who coaches Munster’s first European opposition next week, while Leinster seem to have a steady supply of new talent coming through the ranks ready for the highest level.

That’s not to say I’m ruling them out of contention altogether of course...in Bleyendaal they appear to have a steady hand in the 10 jumper and once they can keep key players fit they will definitely have much better showings than this one.

For Leinster’s part while Sexton won man of the match I was impressed as well by our starting centres but personally I was ready to give the gong to Luke McGrath...not the first time this season I went into a match with doubts over a player only to have them dispelled by a quality display.

Having been watching our European opponents in recent weeks I saw nothing which led me to believe that Leinster definitely have a chance to compete in our pool.  I was going to use the phrase “show an improvement on last year” but hopefully that won’t be difficult!

In fact to be honest I can say I’ve seen enough from all four provinces to suggest we can mount a decent assault on the continental prize this time around, though looking at the squads in England and France we may have to reach that bit higher still.  JLP

Cardiff Blues-13 Leinster-16

PUTTING THINGS RIGHT

We live in an age when only extreme opinions seem to get the attention of the wider public...just look at Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.  Apparently America is terrible and only he can make it great again; and churning out this message actually has him tied in many polls with his opponent.

Maybe I should adopt that policy when I harp on Leinster’s matches?  Everything is either miserable or smelling of roses, nothing in between.  Or maybe I should stick to the boring old method of spelling out what I felt actually happened whether it be good or bad?  Yeah, I reckon I’ll go for that, apologies if you’re looking for something else!

An away win against a team that had won their first four matches?  Brilliant.  Best start to a season in the professional era for Leinster?  Brilliant.  No complaints over either of those facts; you’d have to be Curmudgeon In Chief to have any.  Still, that doesn’t mean everything that happened to us from season kickoff to now has been perfect, and I have no problem spelling it out.

But the most satisfying thing about this particular win, while it did come with it’s own slice of luck along the way, was the manner in which we seemed to take care of what had been ailing us in the previous four matches as though they were on some sort of checklist.  And even if we had lost, which looked very possible in the closing stages, I’d like to think I’d still make the improvements a feature of this writeup.  So what say we deal with the checklist first.

POOR SECOND HALF DISPLAY - check!  We were 10 points down at the interval and held the Blues scoreless in the second half.  Not only that, we came out of the break with a positive attitude and as we dragged ourselves in front we were playing at times like we were the home side.  Leo has mentioned the second half thing in pressers and it is clear they have worked on this area.

DIFFICULTY IN WINNING OUR OWN LINEOUT - check!  Even before Devin Toner took to the field you could see there was time spent on this failing as well.  Our problem had been most prevalent in strong attacking situations...we’d win a penalty around halfway and kick deep in the 22 only to throw a high risk dart which sailed over everyone thus deflating our chances of points.  This time we seemed to opt for simpler options and it certainly helped on the way to our lone try.

NOEL REID - check!  As much as I love Leinster Rugby and everything about it and thus wouldn’t want to single out individuals I have repeatedly mentioned Noel Reid both this season and last as a defensive liability.  Had you read my scribblings and then watched him for the first time on Saturday, you’d have thought I was mad.   Had a solid attacking outing with new centre partner Rory O’Loughlin including a combination that lead to the try, but also between them they made over 20 tackles which included Reid slowing down a rampaging Nick Williams more than once, most importantly right at the end.

So three areas of concern, all pretty much taken care of at once on the way to a very handy four away match points to kick off what is to be an extremely busy and challenging month of October.  Let’s have a closer look at how the actual scoring came about; unfortunately we have to examine the officiating yet again.

Giving opinions on the referee is another area that tends to get polarized, especially on social media.  Either he hasn’t a clue and is being totally biased towards one team or you’re a one-eyed observer who only wants to moan about the man in the middle.

Well on the bias thing, it’s hard not to have some sympathy for Dudley Phillips, who I only realised on Saturday bears a resemblance to his almost-reverse-namesake, the fictional Phillip Dunphy.  This comes up several times each season - the league won’t find a ref from a neutral union and instead appoints one from the visitor’s.

This leads to a condition I call “bias-phobia” where a ref is torn between not wanting to look like he’s favouring the away team and over-compensating in the opposite direction, a crisis which more often than not leads to 80 minutes of inconsistency.  Unfortunately I feel this is what happened to Dudley in this match, and it doesn’t help that he’s is actually from Leinster as well!

Of course that’s not to say that Leinster didn’t benefit from some of his decisions on the night, but to suggest the questionable calls were merely going in one direction is almost always absurd.  Take the Dan Leavy try that wasn’t.  First of all, what incredible strength from the youngster.  When it reached him in the widest channel he had several defenders bearing down on him and it looked like he hadn’t a hope of getting it to the line.

As it turned out he did get the ball down but only a fraction of a second after his fingernail grazed the artificial turf over the touchline.  What followed was a bizarre exchange between ref and TMO.  He clearly asked the man in the booth for help, and he is clearly told “You may award the try”, yet he still asks for more looks until he eventually reaches the right answer.

But overall we were doing just about enough to deserve a lead, and we did get the opening score thanks to a Sexton penalty.  He later missed a chance to put us further ahead, and shortly afterwards Gareth Anscombe levelled the scores down the other end.

Then we had another unusual moment that led to the Blues try, which was scored by Anscombe but brought about by the actions of two Jenkins.  First of all we had Ellis Jenkins ripping the ball free off Mick Kearney in the tackle...this fell kindly for the Blues and gave them a split second to strike before the Leinster defence could adopt its trademark solidity.

When it came to Anscombe he spotted a gap between two Leinster forwards, namely Jack McGrath and Mick Kearney, so he set off towards it.  Meanwhile the ever-wily Blues skipper Gethin Jenkins proceeded to step into McGrath’s tackling lane, something which angered him enough to push the Welshman out of the way.  He proceeded to fall into the path of Kearney which meant neither could make the tackle.

Before I get an onslaught from Cardiff fans, I’m not saying what Gethin did was, well, let’s just say “totally illegal”.  It was one of those things you deserve credit for once you get away with it, but he clearly knew what he’s doing and it definitely creates the space for Anscombe to run though, making it less about the out-half’s ability or even Leinster’s defence.

Not long afterwards Rory O’Loughlin is wrongly pinged for getting up after being tackled...he was clearly never fully put down, but still it gave Anscombe a chance to put his side 10 points ahead which he duly took.  On the stroke of halftime Leinster went from one end of the pitch to within an unfortunate drop from Jamison Gibson-Park of what would have been an impressive score.

But behind we were and given all that had gone in previous weeks after the break it was definitely a big challenge for us like I said earlier.  Thankfully we hit the ground running and a combination of strong carrying and tough tackling kept the Blues in their own half long enough for us to earn a pen which Sexton converted to make it 13-6.

We kept the pressure on and forced our second “choke tackle” of the night to win a scrum at midfield.  From the set piece Johnny Sexton showed great faith in his untried centre combo by calling a play that ended up in Rory O’Loughlin bringing it from halfway deep into the Blues 22.  From here a couple of penalties for us followed and we were determined to make maximum hay from this visit by goes for touch.

The lineout worked, as did the carries that followed, and eventually Rhys Ruddock, aided by  strong work from both props McGrath and Ross, got the ball down.  Was there a double movement as every Welsh person who saw it claims?  Well, there’s definitely a case to be made for it and I thought it was.  But the ref was sure it wasn’t and we deserved a try every bit as much as the home side did theirs.  Now the scores were level and the final quarter promised to be a thriller.

Now when I said earlier our second half was better than it has been, I certainly wasn’t saying it was perfect.  Our scrum was in a bit of trouble after Matthew Rees came on, we took what I thought was a poor option when Sexton went short with a 22 after Anscombe missed a kickable chance to regain the lead, and Jamie Heaslip was lucky not to be pinged (or worse) for illegally scooping a ball out of a ruck.

But as the clock approached ten minutes to go, we were back on the attack and a superb fizzed pass from Sexton had Josh Navidi flailing in mid air, the ball going straight to Dan Leavy who surged into the 22 before being tackled.  Navidi, on for Warburton who suffered a suspected fractured cheekbone in the early stages, was very lazy in returning back to his position in the Blues defence, clearly getting in the way of Gibson-Park’s passing lane and the Kiwi definitely appears to know how to milk a penalty in those situations.

As both skippers had been warned about further blatant transgressions, ref Phillips felt he had no choice but to put Navidi in the bin as well as allowing Sexton to put his side back in the lead.  Of course the home fans weren’t wild about it, though to be fair the S4C English-speaking commentators didn’t find fault.

Despite the extra man, we made heavy weather of the closing stages when Jamie Heaslip dropped a catch he’d be expected to make.  To the credit of Danny Wilson’s men they proceeded to pile on the pressure from then on and in the end we needed a scrum reset killing some clock and some great last-gasp work from Noel Reid to keep them out to the final whistle.

On the balance of what happened over the 80 minutes, it’d be hard to say we didn’t deserve to get something from the match, it’s just a pity that the journey to that balance included so many head-scratching incidents along the way.  The home side do have a right to feel a little aggrieved but not without looking at their own side of things...not everything bad that happened to them was down to someone representing Ireland.

All in all it was it’s great to see us clearly working towards putting things right ahead of an extremely testing schedule.  I’m assuming we’ll see something very close to Leo Cullen’s preferred lineup of fit personnel at the Aviva next Saturday...it might be an odd kickoff time but it is certainly an occasion that never disappoints.  JLP

UPDATE : As John Molloy pointed out on our Facebook page : "Don't forget Nick Williams' shoulder tipped missile attack on Mike Ross. Things were very much not all one way on Saturday."

Hat-tip to Andy McGeady for tweeting the video...

Thought we were getting rid of these types of missile clearouts? This one is directly to the face of Mike Ross https://t.co/vArCXEoCJB

— Andy McGeady (@andymcgeady) October 2, 2016